• Success Criterion 1.4.2
  • Conformance level A

Embedded Ad or Carousel iframe That Starts Playing Audio

1.4.2 — Audio Control

Scenario

Setting

A food delivery app's restaurant menu

What’s wrong

Carousel/ads iframes that start audio — hosting page provides no page-level control.

Example 

<iframe src="https://ads.example.com/promo" allow="autoplay" width="300" height="250"></iframe>
<!-- ad iframe autoplays a video with sound; host restaurant-menu page has no control over it -->

Why it matters

A diner browsing a restaurant's menu at the table suddenly gets a loud ad with no way to silence it from the page they're on.

How to test

Load the page: if an embedded iframe (ad, carousel) starts playing audio and the hosting page offers no way to stop it, it fails.

How to fix

Block autoplay permissions on third-party ad frames, or require the ad network to ship muted-by-default creative.

<iframe src="https://ads.example.com/promo" allow="autoplay 'none'" width="300" height="250"></iframe>

Outcome

The diner finishes browsing the menu without an ad interrupting their conversation at the table.

Who is affected

Anyone in a public or quiet setting, plus screen reader users whose narration is overridden by the ad's audio.

Learn more

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